How many Charter Members does the SDMB currently have? I’ve looked around in the threads on subscription and the best number I can see is Ed’s mention of 3,800 subscribers, but that was some time ago and is likely below the current total.
Also, what are the projected renewal rates? Of course, a best-case scenario would involve 100% renewal plus everyone buying their pet a yearly membership, but what are more realistic expectations?
There is a flaw in your Question. “Charter Member” refers to people who signed up when SDMB first became a Pay-for-Post site. So that number is “fixed” and can now, never increase.
“Member” refers to anyone who signed up after the initial sign-up period. That number can obviously increase.
Your question seems to be: How many total subscribers are there? (Charter Members + Member)
You may want to rephrase your Q before a Mod/Admin comes in an answers the wrong question.
And to think I even caught that on preview (I corrected ‘buying pets a charter membership’ to ‘yearly membership’).
Consider the questions amended to:
How many subscribers does the SDMB currently have?
Of the Charter Members who registered last spring, what is the projected renewal rate?
This is incorrect. New paying members are still receiving the “Charter Member” title. The last I heard was just over 4100 paid. (Counting banned posters)
I’ll be interested in renewal rates too. I’ve seen a few people state that they won’t - my completely WAG is 95%.
if that’s true about NEW members still being called “charter” then I definately feel snookered (esp if they are getting the DISCOUNT rate too) and that it is probably worthy of a Pit Thread.
As far as renewal… MY renewal entirely rests upon the outcome of the “incident we are no longer allowed to talk about”.
Oh. I half misunderstood you. No, they’re not getting the discount, just the title.
Hah! Well I have a view on this. I am a charter member (hurrah!) despite joining a few weeks too late to qualify (apparently). But I am not getting a DISCOUNT rate (boo!). By the end of April, should I rejoin, I will have ponied up $30. Most members will have only paid $12.50. So count yourself lucky!
(I had a winge about this once to the “main person involved in the incident we are not allowed to talk about”. She said she was sorry I had not bought shares in microsoft when they started up!)
Members signing up after the “charter” period are not getting the discount. The fix to the system necessary to change their titles from “Charter Members” to just plain “Members” has been a low priority. The techies will get around to it someday, perhaps when they get set up for the renewals, but of all the things on their list, that’s been something that we can just live with as a temporary oops.
What’s up with Guinastasia then? She’s listed as a ‘member’.
Sneaky wasy of calling her a dick. 
(She had her title manually changed to something different, and when it was reset, the Admin put ‘Member’ instead of ‘Charter Member’)
Her title was manually changed somewhere along the way. If a title is manually changed, a global change won’t hit it. There were (are?) some others too. They need to be reset, which is likely even lower on the priority list.
Apparently, there was some glitch in the boards, actually. (It could have been a time last year when I took a break from the boards, and somehow the block I requested reset my title).
Either way, I’m not worried about it.
But now it says you’re a Charter Member again!
My renewal relies on my being told what the hell the “incident we are no longer allowed to talk about” was. Evidently I missed it, and all the cryptic hints and dire warnings of secrecy are maddening.
hampsters
Charter hampsters
Band Name
Those would be the small mammals that live in the dirty laundry?
Naw, that was obviously a way for the SBMB to show how special you really are! 
:smack: